Zealot:The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

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Has anyone read this book? I thought it was fascinating but I didn’t know what the Church says about it. Much of it is speculative and bases a lot off of Josephus but what bothered me was the hypothesis that Paul was blasphemous and when he repudiated “people coming with a different gospel”, it was actually Apostles James and the Jerusalem Church sent to correct Paul’s errors. The early church founded by the actual disciples never thought to put Jesus on the same level as God. However with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. that view was lost and we are left with the false Christology of a man who never even knew Jesus in person. It’s interesting and to be honest has somewhat made me question things .
 
I have never read the book and I do not think I will. Jesus said"I and My Father are One and the Same." As far as Paul never meeting Jesus in person, he did not have to, what happened to him on the road to Damascus and the fact when he heard Jesus voice his heart was open made him see the Truth and there is nothing "false’ in that. Paul was not blasphemous,he saw Truth and he spoke truth. I never “met” Jesus in the flesh yet I have met Him. You said you question things, I hope you find the Answer.
. GOD BLESS
 
I can see why believers don’t like it, Reza Azlan is a Christian apostate who likewise apostized from Islam prior to that. That said when it comes to historical assessment it is an excellent work, though merely touching the tip of the iceberg it does give an insight into a fairly arcane and murky area of study that laymen could pick up, understand and probably also enjoy due to his lively and easy reading style. As an Atheist myself I actually think Reza was if anything too accommodating in his writing, he often doesn’t follow certain threads to their logical end in trying to avoid offending his audience who might be believers in the divinity or prophetic status of Jesus.

It’s an excellent insight into the historical situation and the world Jesus was likely born into. It does however consider the Gospels to be unreliable evidence which naturally I’m sure Catholics would find deeply objectionable, but nonetheless I’m sure even a devout believer could gain much from learning about the world that Jesus lived in and shaped his formative years.
 
once again we have someone proposing that no one can be certain of the Truth that is Jesus.

once again i want to go on record as saying i totally reject that proposition.

Jesus made it plain and simple who had His authority on earth after His Ascension in to heaven.

those who think otherwise end up doing two things, adding to division and not knowing what Jesus did and taught.
 
The interesting thing that most Christian critics of the book is this; The book also goes against the Muslim view of Jesus as well. Actually many Muslim countries banned the book. It’s just ironic that people think it’s this book written by a Muslim who was a Christian and to be honest when I listen to his lectures I think he only reverted back to Islam because it was the religion of his forefathers. I am not convinced he’s very religious at all.
 
I find it very illustrative of the new natural reaction to automatically reject something out of hand out because it doesn’t agree with your beliefs on every single point. It suggests deep fear to me tbh, good evidence shouldn’t fear a challenge.

You are quite correct, Azlan has said before in debates his identification with Islam is cultural, not unlike how many Catholics identification is solely cultural in places such as Ireland or Newfoundland these days and has shown open hostility to the claims of Islamic scholars on a range of issues.
 
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